The Rabbit, the Violinist, and the Tree Runner Rewrite
by Dragon Violist
Summary: Peter needs to get over Alice, who came back to our world with Blood, so Nightmare sends him to find two new foreigners for Wonderland.
1. Peter's Mission

The Rabbit, the Violinist, and the Tree Runner

Author's Note: This is a rewrite of the first one. I had many plot holes and I accidently wrote some scenes again. It just wasn't working and I really liked writing this one so I thought I'd fix it up. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: If I owned this manga/anime I would've made Julius or Peter fall in love with me as a separate character so obviously I don't. I only take claim to the plot of this story and my OC's.

**Chapter One**- Peter's Mission

**Peter White**- the dream world

"What am I supposed to do? Just let her go!" Peter yells out.

"Yes, all you care about is her happiness right?" reminds the calm incubus.

"Yes, but still, she left! And with that stupid Hatter!" Peter was furious at even the thought of his precious Alice falling in love with Blood. He always thought that he would be the one she fell in love with.

"Yes Peter, I know. I don't like it either, but this is what she wanted. He brought her back to Wonderland, but now it's time for her to face the past in her original world." Nightmare was trying hard show only sympathy for Peter, which was proving difficult, as he loves Alice too.

"Can't we bring her back?" Peter cries out desperate for Alice

"I'm sorry Peter but Wonderland won't allow it because she has won the game. And Blood also won't be allowed back because he has left for good. We'll be needing a new Hatter soon."

Out of his anger Peter takes his gun out and nearly shoots Nightmare, who dodges just in time.

"Wait...Peter! Before you...(cough)...shoot me I'm prepared to offer you a deal. Wonderland wants a new foreigner, actually two. You can go back to Alice's world so that you may tell Alice goodbye and so that you can search for new foreigners. You do no one, including yourself, any good using the servants as target practice."

Peter settles down his gun reverting back to its normal timepiece and putting it back in his coat.

"Why me? What about Boris or Elliot?" Peter argues.

"You're the one who loves Alice the most. You need this to help you get over her."

"What if I don't want to get over her?" he retorts bitterly.

"If you don't, all you do is make yourself suffer. Not only that, you would be neglecting your duties out of depression and would need to be replaced. Also, Julius is overloaded with clocks right now and I think he's making plans to kill you," Nightmare informs him.

"I'll go, but only because if I don't, I won't be the prime minister anymore, which means, I won't be here for Alice if she comes back. But only for Alice, not anyone else." He says, at least he'll get to see her one more time.

"Thank you, Peter," Nightmare lets out a sigh of relief, "I should be bringing you to a few days after Alice has returned with Blood. Your instructions are to say good-bye. Don't stay with Alice. And find the 2 girls. You'll know who they are when you see them."

"Okay, I understand."

"Good luck," and with that Nightmare sends Peter to the real world in search of Wonderland's new foreigners.


	2. The Violist

Author's Note: Enjoy!

Disclaimer: HnKnA: not mine. Martella and plot: mine.

**Chapter Two**- The Violist

**Martella**- Our World

I'm leaning against the trunk of a tree. My knees are drawn close to me so I can draw better and my viola lies on its side in the grass beside me.

"Hey, look guys, it's the Chubby Bunny," I hear a sneering voice call out my childhood nickname. I don't look up knowing very well whom the voice belongs to, Rosie Everhart and her annoying twins Margaret and Ella. Rosie is my kindergarten enemy who crowned my Chubby Bunny. I was fatter back then and I did wear pink rabbit PJ's to school but come on that was 10 years ago. Now I'm normal size and wear sweats to sleep. It doesn't matter the name stuck either way.

"Hey, whatcha doing there, Fat Hatter?" I look up from my sketchbook and then continue drawing my picture of a broken pocket watch. I don't care what they called me, but I have to hand it to that jack wagon, Fat Hatter was pretty creative. I don't let what anyone else thinks bother me, I only care what I think of myself or at least that's what I like to think.

"I said, what are you doing?" she commands.

I hug my sketchbook to me thinking they'd take it but they go for my viola case instead. I jump up dropping my sketchbook "Hey, give that back!" I demand, reaching for my instrument.

"I don't think so. Let's see...oh I know what to do with it. Margaret, Ella grabs her. Make sure no one can hear her either." They tackle me to the ground before I can reach Rosie. I cry out but they take my jacket that was lying beside me and use the sleeve as a gag. Rosie drops the case to the ground and begins to open it. I toss and turn but they have too good a hold on me. I watch, useless, as Rosie removes my viola.

"I just know you're going to love this," she smirks as she raises the viola over her head then swings it against the tree trunk. I scream through the gag, tears streaming down my face as I hear the deafening crack of wood and strings snapping.

"Look how beautiful it is now, Fatty. Let's go girls," she waves them over. They drop me like a piece of trash, like an old toy broken and dead. I fall on my knees burrowing my hands in my face, trying to keep tears from falling onto the destroyed instrument.

I pack it up into the case, gently as if holding a baby bird. I don't think about going to the principal or a teacher, but my immediate thought is to run.

In the distance I hear the bell ring for the next class but instead of going towards the school I pack up my things and flee into the forest.

Peter- waking into our world

Peter opens his eyes to find himself in the garden that he took Alice from. Everything looked exactly as it had back then except for the absence of Alice.

This is the last time I'll probably see her, Peter thought. How can I let go of her smile, her voice, her whole being? Why do I have to suffer?

Peter sighed, "What if she's not even here?"

"Peter!" Right on cue Alice comes running towards him, with Blood not far behind. Peter couldn't see but two small children were hiding behind Blood.

For the first since he met Alice she actually hugged him willingly.

Taken aback Peter finally stuttered, "A...Alice?"

"Of course who else would it be?" It could've been anyone Peter thought. She looks so different, more grown-up. Her long brunette hair was wrapped up neatly into a bow, she grew a little taller and her face had become fuller.

"You just look so different."

"Well I have been gone for 5 years." With this, Peter became wobbly, "5 years..." he managed to get out. " Nightmare said it'd only be a few days."

"Surprised Peter?" comes a smug voice from behind Alice.

"Blood," Peter's face twisted with anger and pain.

"Nice to see you too White. I'd like you to meet my two kids."

"Kids...?" Peter questioned shyly.

"Yes, twins. Peter, Julius, it's okay this is just an old acquaintance of mine." Slowly two twin boys stepped out from behind Blood. Peter takes a step back surprised at how much they look like Dee and Dum.

"We almost named them Dee and Dum but decided on Julius and Peter instead. I mean you were the first from Wonderland that I saw and Julius took me in," explained Alice.

After being quiet for quite sometime Peter managed to smile at the twins and introduce himself.

"Nice to meet you two. I'm Peter White, an old friend of your mom's."

"Why don't you come on in we were just about to have tea when I saw you from the window. We can't have it in the garden or the boys would run off."

"I'm happy to come, but I can't stay that long," Peter accepted the offer.

During the tea Peter explained to him about what Nightmare had said. He left out the bit where he pulled a gun on him and some of the stuff said before that. He couldn't allow himself to do that with Alice's kids there.

Alice filled him in on what's been going on since she left Wonderland. She had learned about her sister's death and visits her grave often. She went to school and got a humanities degree and is now working in social services.

"It was nice catching up with you, but I must be off," Peter says looking at his pocket watch.

"So this is goodbye then, for good this time? Will I ever see anyone else again?" Alice whispered.

"I'm sorry Alice, but I think this is the last time you'll see any of us. Except maybe for Nightmare." He walks over to her to give her one last hug before he continues his mission. A tear escapes his eye rolling down his cheek. He wipes it off before Alice or Blood could see.

"Word of advice, the school is a good place to find unhappy people so you can wander around there for a while," Blood tells him.

"Thank you, Hatter," Peter says surprised at the sudden act of kindness. He probably just wants me away from Alice. But still, I'll look around the school.

"Um, where is the school?" Peter asks.

"Down the street and to the left, you can't miss it," Alice informs him.

"Thank you Alice," with that he turns to leave.

While walking to the school Peter heard a bell ring. Not the kind that they have in wonderland but it rang out very fast and loud. He saw kids on the school grounds in the distance heading inside. He assumed it must be time for class or something and decided to wait till school was out to look for the two girls.

Suddenly he heard footsteps, the sound of someone running. He turned and noticed a figure running through the forest next to the street. Peter sprints and chases after the figure.

"Wait!" he cries out but the person doesn't stop. It's a girl he notices and she's carrying a case around. He keeps after her till she trips, the case flying out of her hands. Peter rushes over to her.

"Are you hurt?" he says as she weeps into the ground. She doesn't reply, but only points to her case. Peter brings it over to her; she sits up and gently opens the case. He gasps as he sees the once beautiful instrument broken and dead.

"How did this happen?" Peter asks. She punches the ground and slowly begins, "Some girls who have tormented me since elementary school. This was my best friend and they took it away from me," the girl says between sobs.

"Would you like to go to another place? I know someone who might be able to fix this for you," he offers. She only nods wanting nothing else.

"Okay, I'm going to take you to Wonderland," he continues.

"Please just take me away," she cries.

"Yes, I will, but first we need to find one more person."


	3. The Tree Runner

Author's Note: Enjoy!

Disclaimer: HnKnA- not mine. Martella, Iris, and plot- mine.

**Chapter Three**- The Tree Runner

**Iris**- in our world

I grasp a tree branch hanging above my head and pull myself up. I take pride in climbing trees and even more so running through them from branch to branch. It's the only thing I'm good at, I suck at academics because I'm dyslexic and ADHD so I can't concentrate in class, and I can't draw, sing, or play an instrument because I'm tone deaf and have no artistic skill, and I really just don't like any other sports except for what I call tree running.

I feel like a squirrel, jumping around. I've been able to go through two miles of trees without ever touching the ground. The bell rang for class, but as something seemed to be going on below I didn't go that way.

I never really use it to spy on people, but I followed a girl who was ground running, and carrying a viola case. I see another person come up and he has on rabbit ears and white hair! He reminds me of some of the girls who like manga at school, except they wear cat ears. He sees the girl running and chases after her.

She trips dropping her instrument case. I hear them talking and I lighten my breathing so they don't hear me. They're talking about what happened to make her run; apparently that witch Rosie broke her instrument. She takes it out to show us, it looks horribly mangled. I've seen her play sometimes and it used to be so beautiful. Rosie is going to pay for that.

The man who is talking to her tells her that he'll take her away if she wants, to a place where they can fix it.

It just seems too sketchy but she doesn't care, she's emotionally compromised. I then hear him say Wonderland needs one more person and I fall out of the tree, which is rare for me, so rare it's never happened before.

Shocked, the two of them turn to me and the rabbit man smiles.

"Well I think we've found our second person."

The girl, I think her name's Martella, just stares at me with her tearstained eyes. I don't think she recognizes me, we've never worked together before and we both keep to ourselves.

"How much did you hear?" the rabbit man asks, helping me up.

"Pretty much everything, but what about Wonderland?" I ask him.

"I'm the prime minister there and I've been sent to bring two people back with me," he informs me.

"Can I come?" I ask him.

"Do you have anything here to hold you back? Friends? Family?"

"No I'm pretty much on my own, I stay with my Aunt but she doesn't care for me. Wait do they have trees in Wonderland, like a lot of them?" I ask eagerly.

"Yes they do and you can come," he confirms not registering the oddness of my question.

"Thank you so much!" I exclaim hugging him. Not really knowing what to do he pats my back.

"Okay then let's go to Wonderland," he says and leads us to the garden of a huge beautiful house and there's this huge rabbit hole right in the middle of the garden just like in the book. The rabbit waves to a girl in the window and then he turns around and jumps in. I wonder who that is?

"I'm not so sure about this," the girl says to me, looking warily at the hole. She's clutching both her case and sketchbook.

"Are you kidding? It looks like fun! Let's go," I grab her by the arm making sure not to drop her stuff and jump in dragging her with me.


	4. Down the Rabbit Hole

Author's Note: Enjoy!

Disclaimer: HnKnA- not mine. Martella, Iris, and plot- mine.

**Chapter Four**- Down the Rabbit Hole

**Peter, Iris, and Martella**- in Wonderland

Peter smiles at Iris who seems to be enjoying herself. Martella on the other hand is screaming insults at Peter and keeps saying that they're going to die. She clings to her violin case and tries to keep her drawings from flying away.

Iris looks down and sees they are advancing towards a blinding white light. Thankfully Martella is too busy trying to get her drawings that she doesn't look or else the screaming would get even worse.

Iris closes her eyes and pulls her knees to her chest like she's doing a cannonball into a swimming pool. Peter watches her with amusement and the bright light engulfs all three of them.

Martella is the first to wake up. She slowly gazes at her new surroundings, thankful to not be falling anymore. They landed onto a stone floor that looks out to the clouds. It looks like a rooftop or a balcony. When she finally gets a grasp on reality she immediately reaches for her violin. It's laying next to her and she let's out a relieved sigh. Iris on the other hand looks like she was knocked out. Martella is just about to shake her awake when she shoots up and scares her just as much as the falling did.

"Sorry! Didn't mean to scare you, I have a bad habit of waking up that way," Iris apologizes. She looks around and waves to Peter who is walking towards them.

"Hi Iris. Martella. Sorry I was gone. I had to get something from the queen," he informs them, "You seemed like you would be out for a little bit so I made a quick run to the castle. Looks like my timing was right."

"How do you know our names?" Iris asks. Martella hadn't realized till then that they were never exchanged.

"I'm the prime minister here so I should know them by any means. I'm Peter by the way."

"So we're in Wonderland right now?" Martella asks not sure whether to be happy she doesn't have to face school anymore or be scared because she followed this strange rabbit man to this place with out thinking it through.

"Yep, you're in Wonderland! Now I need both of you to drink this," he tells the two girls holding out the vials containing the potion of hearts.

"Why in the name of sanity would we drink that?" Iris asks what Martella was thinking.

"We don't even know what's in those vials, so I'm not drinking that," Iris points out. Martella nods in agreement.

"Okay then," Peter tells them and he takes out one of the hear stoppers and drinks the contents of the vial. Then he walks over to Iris and kisses her, forcing her to drink the liquid, just like he did with Alice.

At first Iris stumbles back, unable to say anything. Then after thinking it through she steps forward again and slaps Peter.

"You idiot! That was my first kiss!" she yells at him, blushing. He simply smiles and advances towards Martella.

"Oh no, you are not doing that to me to. Just hand over the stupid thing," she demands.

"Fine, here you go," and he drops the light purple vial into her hand. She makes a face as she drinks it but finishes it off.

"Now why did we have to drink that?" Martella asks.

"It's called the Potion of Hearts. Now that you've both drank it you must participate in the game. I have to go now, see you later," he waves goodbye and turns to leave, but not before flashing a mischievous grin at Iris.

"Can you believe that man?" Iris blurts out.

"Neither of us thought this through, did we?" Martella asks. Iris shakes her head in shame at herself.

"What do you suppose we do now?" Martella questions.

"I guess just take a look around and find some place to stay," Iris answers. They gather up Martella's things and head down a small trapdoor they found in the middle of the floor. Before they left Iris looked over the edge and found they were at the highest point of a center tower that was guarded by twelve smaller ones. It seemed like the small towers were the hours of a clock. When Martella heard this, remembering her drawing from earlier, she began to feel queasy so Iris led her down the trap door carrying her violin for her.


	5. Time to Explore

Author's Note: Sorry for the random lengths of these. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: HnKnA- not mine. Martella, Iris, and plot- mine.

**Chapter Five**- Time to Explore

**Martella**- in the Clock Tower with Iris

After following the stairs from the top of the tower for a while with only on torch, we finally came to a candle lit hallway with dark blue carpets and light golden wallpaper.

We followed the voices of two guys arguing over something we couldn't make out. We tried to keep as silent as possible till Iris tripped on a bit of carpet, accidentally dropping my already battered instrument.

"Sorry, this is not my day. First, I fall out of a tree, get my first kiss stolen and now this," she exclaims, so much for being silent.

I'm about to help her up when the voices stop and one of them comes out holding a sword to her neck. The other comes towards me with a gun.

The one with the sword has sandy brown hair and blood red eyes, the same color as the blood on his clothes. He looks like a figure from a nightmare with the long cape and the blood stains.

The one holding the gun at me has deep blue eyes and long blue-almost-black hair that's tied up in a loose ponytail. He's wearing a navy blue coat and a gold dress shirt covered in clocks.

"Who are you and what are you doing here?" the swordsman asks.

"We were brought here by a man with rabbit ears, Peter, and we were walking down from the roof we landed on," Iris answers irritably. I pray she doesn't say something that will get us both killed.

"Well you aren't faceless or new role holders so you must be foreigners," he says lowering his sword. The blue haired man sighs and lowers his gun. I jump a little as it abruptly turns into a wrench.

"That idiot rabbit, so soon after Alice. What was he thinking bringing two people this time..." he begins to mumble to himself.

"I'm Ace!" the knight greets over happy and helps Iris up. She curtly gives her name, but she looks like she wants to hit something.

"And you?" Ace turns to me, with an oddly bright smile.

"Martella."

"And I'm Julius. I must return to my work now. If you need a place to stay there are some empty rooms further down," he turns and walks back into the room.

"Well at least you came here first. Alice went all the way to the Hatter's Mansion last time," Ace said.

We both have no clue who or what he's talking about so he says we'll find out later. We introduce ourselves and we find out that Ace is the knight of hearts and works for Queen Vivaldi. We walk towards the end of the hall and stop by the empty rooms. We bid Ace goodnight and take our own rooms.

I look out the window in my room and surprisingly it's still quite light outside. It felt like we spent a lot less time on the stairs than I thought. I lay my instrument on my bed, the case unopened. I refuse to look at it and start drawing instead.

I draw Peter and Julius. Ace I don't draw, truthfully he creeps me out a little, and the bloodstains are just a bit questionable.

After I finish drawing I'm too emotionally exhausted to do anything else so I set my instrument down on a chair in my room and sink into the bed's soft covers and fall asleep.

**Iris**- in the Clock Tower

I guess since its still light outside I'll go try to blow off some steam from all of today's events. It's just so surreal it's hard to comprehend, but I am getting the adventure of a lifetime.

I look around my new room for weapons of any sort just in case I run into more people with swords. I should be fine as long as no one sees me in the trees, but it's good to have back up.

The only thing I find is a long bow and a couple of arrows. Not much good for short-range weapons but it's better than nothing and I can run with it.

I check on Martella and she's sound asleep, so I continue down the stairs till I come to the main door. At the sight of my first tree I slam the door shut behind me and sprint up its branches. I feel much better already and I begin to fly through the branches.

When I looked down from the top of the tower I noticed a random amusement park. I have no clue how it relates to Wonderland so I decide to see what it's for and I really love roller coasters.

Suddenly on the ground beneath me a little figure darts by followed by a slightly larger pink and black one. I quickly chase after them out of pure curiosity.

The first figure I saw is a guy with brown mouse ears in a green outfit being chased by a pink haired guy with a fuzzy boa and a black punk outfit on. It seems like the mouse person is running for their life.

I run further ahead and drop down from a tree onto the ground in front of them. They both stop and he looks on their faces were priceless, but I control myself from laughing. I take out the bow and arrow.

"What are you doing?" I demand to know.

"Help me!" the mouse person hides behind me.

"Why are you chasing him?" I ask the punk guy.

"Because he's a mouse and I'm a cat it's what I do, see?" he holds out his tail for me to see.

"Just leave him alone okay?" I ask nicely.

"Wait are you a new foreigner?" he sniffs the air exactly like a cat.

"Yes I guess so. Peter brought Martella and I here and we ended up in the clock tower," I tell him.

"So there are two of you? Well nice to meet you, I'm Boris Airay, the Cheshire cat. Now what were you doing in that tree?" he asks with a grin.

"I'm Iris, I was tree running," I smirk. He raises an eyebrow; "It's a sport I made up where you only use the branches of the trees to move. I'll show you how to do it if you quit being mean to the mouse," I offer.

"Fine, I'll stop for now," he replies, I nod in approval and turn to the mouse.

"Thank you Miss Iris! Come by the Amusement Parks sometime and I'll show you around," he gives me a hug then runs off waving goodbye.

"Okay now how do you do this?" Boris asks, and I turn back to him. I show for him to follow me and climb into a tree. He follows me and I take off towards the park. I look back to find him flying across the trees with as much ease as I do, must be the cat part of him.

I look down for a quick second and find another two blurs cross my path from the ground. They seem to be heading to the park to. I run faster ahead and I hear Boris tell me to slow down, but I still keep going and jump down in front of two boys that look exactly the same. The look on the faces as I do this never gets old, and this time I can't help it but I start cracking up. Boris lands beside me and asks what's going. Then he starts laughing along when he sees their faces too.

Finally after I stop, I get a good look at the two boys. They're probably my age but they sound like they're 13 or so. They both have on navy blue guard uniforms and the same gray-blue hair; the only difference is their red and blue eyes and hats of the same sort.

"Boris, who is this pretty lady?" the red one asks the cat. I blush, no one's ever called me pretty before.

"And why are you laughing at us?" the one in blue asks.

"This is Iris, she's one of the new foreigners Peter brought. Your faces were hilarious when we jumped down. Iris, I would like you to meet Tweedle Dee," he motions to the blue twin, "And Tweedle Dum," he motions to the red twin.

"Nice to meet you," I reply.

They tackle me to the ground.

"Can you be our new Onee-san? Our other one left us," they both ask, well it can't hurt anything and they seem so cute, and so I agree.

"Come on let's get to the Park, if that's where you want to go?" Boris inquires, slightly blushing.

"Yep that's where I was headed," and we continue on foot to the Park.

When we get there a red haired man with glasses happily greets us. He's also wearing a bright yellow outfit and carrying a misshapen string instrument.

"Hi, I'm Gowland! You must be one of the new foreigners, let me play you a welcome song," he offers.

"No! Please don't old man!" Boris pleads and covers his ears. The twins do the same, it can't be that bad.

I was wrong, but I managed to survive the horror of what he calls a song.

"That was very unusual," I yell not wanting to hurt his feelings. I can't really hear anything anymore.

"Thank you!"

"The other foreigner who came with me also plays violin, but hers broke, but I'm sure she'd love to come by and listen to you," I tell him mentally apologizing to Martella. Satisfied he leaves us to the rides.

"Why didn't you warn me about this?" I question Boris.

"I didn't think we would run into him, sorry," he gives a shy grin.

"Come on Onee-san!" the twins pull me towards the teacups and we all get in.

I finally regain my hearing after dozens of roller coasters and Boris takes me back to the Clock Tower. The twins' head towards what I found out is a mansion where they work for the Hatter.

I thank Boris and head up to my room. A few moments later night falls and I hope Boris is already back at the park. Tired from all the fun I just had, I jump into my bed without even taking off my shoes and fall to sleep.


	6. No Sense of Direction

Author's Note: Enjoy!

Disclaimer: HnKnA- not mine. Martella, Iris, and plot- mine.

**Chapter Six**- No sense of Direction

**Martella**- the dream world

Expecting to be in my room I open my eyes but instead I find a pirate hovering over me.

"I'm not a pirate," he corrects me reading my mind.

"Who are you and where am I?" I ask plainly just wanting to sleep.

"My name is Nightmare and you're in the dream world, Martella," he informs me.

"How do you...?"

"I read minds;" he answers before I even finish asking, "Anyways, I asked Peter to bring you here because after Alice left, Wonderland has been out of balance, so here you are. And yes you could just converse with me through thoughts, though I do prefer speaking."

"Okay then, so can you tell me about Wonderland?" I ask.

"Yes, first of all you were chosen to come because you wanted a world where you could live without getting teased all the time. Second, there are three major sections of Wonderland, the Amusement Park, the Hatters Mansion, and the Castle of Hearts.

"Julius is the clock maker here and Ace, whom you've also met is his subordinate and the Knight of Hearts for Queen Vivaldi. Be careful, everyone here is trigger happy, but don't worry they will all come to love you.

"Also we usually have a Hatter but we haven't found someone to fill the job yet since our last one left. I'll explain this later on to Iris, so for now sleep well and go explore when you're ready."

With that the world goes black and I wake up in my room fully rested to find that the moon is shining bright in the night sky. I want to go and check the place out but it might not be safe.

I search around the room for any type of weapon other than my instrument case. All I can find are some throwing knives; I have no clue why they would be in there but when I test them out I find that I'm pretty decent at them and decide to keep them. I make them accessible to me so I can use them while carrying the viola in one hand.

Iris is fast asleep in her room. I'm thinking about telling Julius that I'm leaving but it might bother him. He seemed pretty irritated when we met earlier, but before I walk out I check on him in his workshop. He's fast asleep next to a pile of tiny gears. I go back to my room and find a spare blanket covering him before heading out.

It feels nice to walk under the stars, but I'm on a mission to find someone who can fix my viola. I'll ask Julius if he's ever not busy. I swear, if I ever find the power to go back to Earth just for a little bit I'm going to hurt that pansy cake so bad her ancestors will cry.

Suddenly I have the feeling that I'm being followed. I look back and no one's there, but I keep my hand on a knife.

"Who are you?" A voice startles me and I throw a knife in that direction out of instinct.

"Be careful with those. You could hurt someone." The mystery person steps out of the shadows. It's the guy who threatened Iris with a sword. The one with blood on his shirt, I think he said his name was Ace.

"Sorry about that. Why were you following me?" I asked. He took my knife out of the tree it landed in and handed it back to me.

"I was curious," he stated. Sighing, I put my knife in my belt.

"Since you're here, where are you headed?" I ask.

"Back to the castle to see Vivaldi, the Queen."

"I was headed there anyways. Would you accompany me? It'll be nice to have someone to talk to." I agree not wanting to be rude.

"Why are you looking for the Queen?"

"I'm looking for someone to fix this," I tell him.

"At this time of night? Have you asked Julius?"

"He was asleep and it seems like he has a lot on his plate."

We start walking in the direction that seems to be the opposite of the castle but he lives here so maybe it'll end up being a shortcut.

Suddenly out of the blue it changes to daytime again and the building I see in the distance is not a castle but a mansion, the mansion that houses the Mafia.

After remembering the warning from Nightmare about everyone being trigger-happy here I get out my knives ready to pull my arm back and throw if I have to. And I do. An axe flies past my head and buries itself in the trunk of the tree next to me. My eyes find its origin, which looks to be two black shadows, but right before I throw the knives Ace holds me back.

"Hey Dee, hey Dum!" he calls to the figures.

"You know them?"

"Yeah, they're the gate keepers for the mansion," he tells me.

"Then why did they throw the axes at us?"

"It's their job," he tells me casually.

"Martella, meet Dee and Dum, the gate keepers for the Hatter's Mansion," he introduces. Dee and Dum appear to be twins, one preferring red and the other blue.

"We already met the other Onee-San, but you can also be ours."

"Do you mean Iris?"

"Yeah we dropped her off at the Clock Tower, she taught us how to tree run." I don't know what that is, I guess its sort of self-explanatory though.

"Hey! What are you doing here? Did you get lost again?" A man with rabbit ears demands. He is wearing a colorful scarf and overcoat.

"Hi Elliot, we were heading to the castle," Ace grins and Elliot just shakes his head.

"It's that way stupid," Elliot tells him annoyed.

"This is Martella," Dee and Dum push me towards Elliot.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Elliot, the March Hare," he smiles.

"Nice to meet you too."

"What's that?" Elliot points to my case.

"A viola. It's like a violin but a little bigger and it has a deeper sound. I'm trying to find someone to fix it."

"Well, as long as you don't take it to Gowland. His always changes and he's terrible at it. Maybe you can give him lessons sometime." I don't know who Gowland is but he must be pretty bad.

"You should try to take it to Vivaldi," he suggests, "maybe someone there can fix it."

"That's what we were doing until someone," I look pointedly at Ace, "got us lost."

"Well you should get going. The queen might be having tea soon and Ace should get back before she or Peter gets rid of any more servants." That last bit made me uneasy. Gets rid of them?

"Well, thank you for pointing us in the right direction. We'll be off then."

"Come back and visit us onee-san!" The twins and Elliot wave us off as we head to the castle, in the right direction this time.


	7. The Queen of Stuffed Animals

Author's Note: Enjoy!

Disclaimer: HnKnA- not mine. Martella, Iris, and plot- mine.

**Chapter Seven**- The Queen of Stuffed Animals

**Martella**- Going to the castle with Ace

"I think Elliot pointed us in the wrong direction," Ace says. The top of the castle is right above the tree line in front of us.

"No, it's right there. I think you're directionally challenged," I raise an eyebrow at him.

"Oh yeah, you're right. Alice said I was too," he smiles and we start walking again.

"Who was Alice? I heard Julius mention her when he talked about Peter bringing us here. And Nightmare mentioned her." I was burning with curiosity.

"She was a foreigner here, like you and Iris are. To leave, she had to interact with all the inhabitants; eventually we all fell in love with her in different ways. She fell in love with the Hatter, Blood, and left with him back to her world. Now we need a new Hatter. Wonderland will choose one soon," Ace brings me up to date.

"Okay, got it." We don't say anything else the rest of the way there.

When we get to the gates of the castle a person without a face tells us that the Queen is waiting for us. I ask Ace about the faceless card people and he explained that only role holders and foreigners have faces.

The rabbit man, Peter, stands by the Queen. She's very pretty and has long curly purple hair.

"So you're the new foreigner Peter has told us about," she speaks with the royal 'we'. I am going to have to get used to that.

"Yes, your majesty. I'm Martella," I attempt a curtsy but it looks very ungraceful.

"Oh, none of that majesty stuff. You can call us Vivaldi. And Ace did you bring the clocks back to Julius?" She turns to Ace.

"Yes, my Queen," Ace bows.

"Good, you are dismissed. Peter, you spoke of another girl?"

"Yes. Iris," he tells her.

"Could you find her and bring her to us? We want to meet her."

With that Peter runs off, quite joyfully too. He must actually like Iris, I thought he only pulled that thing with the potion because he wanted to mess with her.

"Now what is it that you are holding?"

"It's my viola. I was actually wondering if you have anyone who could fix it?"

"Sorry, that might be more in Gowland's area. I'm not too musically inclined so we don't really have anyone to fix them. Have you asked Julius yet?"

"No, has he played before, because everyone keeps telling me to ask him?"

"Maybe, I can't remember him not working on his clocks though. He's a great craftsman and might be able to fix it." That's probably what I'll have to do. I don't want to disturb him though.

"Yeah, I'll ask him."

"Come dear, we want to show you something. Please inform Peter when he gets here that we'll be with Martella in our room," she takes my hand and we go upstairs.

After quite a bit of walking through the castle we make it to Vivaldi's room, which is easily the size of my house. Surprisingly there are tons of stuffed animals.

"Aren't they adorable?! We just love cute things, speaking of which we want you to try on some dresses," she takes me to a slightly smaller room that appears to be her closet. She rummages through them and hands me a dark blue dress about the same color as Julius's hair.

I try it on and it fits perfectly, the best part is that it doesn't itch even with the gold lace.

"You can keep that if you want. We'll have one of our servants finds more of that size in other colors. Where will you be staying? You can always stay here if you want," Vivaldi offers.

"That's very kind of you, but I'm staying with Julius. He's going to try to fix my viola, some idiot broke it. I promise I'll come and visit a lot though. If you want we can have a sleep over tomorrow." I don't want to let her down hard and she's very nice. If I had a sister I imagine she'd be like Vivaldi.

"That's too bad, but a sleepover sounds like fun. Maybe Iris can join us if she wants to. What is she like?"

"I'm not sure really. We went to the same school but we both kept to ourselves. I know she likes tree running, a sport that she made up. Since flexible clothing is required for that it'll be hard to get her in a dress, but she might oblige."

"We see, well Peter should be here any minute. Until then, would you like some tea and cake?" Vivaldi asks. I hadn't really noticed how hungry I'd been.

"Yes, very much please." One of the faceless, the same one that greeted us runs off to the kitchen as we wait for Iris.


	8. Of Cats and Rabbits

Author's Note: Enjoy!

Disclaimer: HnKnA- not mine. Martella, Iris, and plot- mine.

**Chapter Eight**- Of Cats and Rabbits

**Iris**- Meeting Nightmare in the dream world

"Who are you?" I ask the pirate guy hovering above me.

"I am _not_ a pirate guy. My name is Nightmare and I can read minds," he pouts.

"Okay then. Why are you in my dream?"

"I'm a incubus, I'm hiding from Grey, who's been trying to get me to go to the hospital for ages now," he coughs violently into his handkerchief.

"I don't like the hospital either but some things just have to be done. You don't want to get too sick, so you and I are going to the Doctor's," I grab his hand before remembering we are in the Dream World.

"Dang it, I forgot we aren't in the real world."

"Yep, you can't do anything here," he grins thinking that he's escaped me.

"Oh yeah, well this is my dream isn't it?" I imagine us in a hospital and that's was appears around us.

"You're the first person to ever do that. Crud, a doctor's coming for me. Bye," he bids farewell to escape capture and my Dream World melts.

Peter knocks on my door waking me up to bring me to the Castle of Hearts. I sling my bow and quiver over my back.

"You don't need that. I'll protect you," Peter tells me upon seeing it.

"I can protect myself, thank you very much." Dollop head.

I tell Julius that I'm heading out accidently startling him awake. Peter and I leave pretty quickly after that.

About halfway there Boris drops out of the tree in front of us. Peter takes out a gun and points it at Boris.

"What are you doing here cat?"

"Peter put that away," he grudgingly abides and it shrinks into his pocket watch.

"I wanted to know if Alice wanted to hang out and go tree running."

"Sorry Boris, I'm off to see the Queen."

"I'll walk with you then. I'm not really allowed to go there but getting chased by the guards is always fun." I notice one of Peter's ears twitching.

"As long as you don't get hurt," I tell Boris.

Peter looks at his pocket watch gun and sees that we're running late. He grabs my hand and we start fast walking. Boris grabs my other hand and soon we're racing to the castle. Once we get there we're all out of breath.

"That was fun," I tell them. They nod in agreement.

"How are you breathing normally?" Boris asks in between breaths.

"Practice. With all the tree running I do my lungs are quite strong." Peter starts breathing normally again and reminds me that the Queen and Martella are waiting.

"Thanks for walking with us Boris. We'll go tree running more tomorrow," I promise.

"Okay, see you later then. And you better be nice to her rabbit," Boris tells him.

"She'll be fine. Come on Iris." Peter says wanting to get rid of him.

I follow him into the grand castle, and he leads me to the Queens room. We don't say anything but every so often he'll glance back to make sure I'm okay. He really isn't a bad guy and truth to be told I didn't mind the kiss. I just wish I'd known it was coming and that I knew him better.

The Queen and Martella are sitting in the middle of a gigantic bedroom eating cake and drinking tea. There's another place set out for me.

"Vivaldi, this is Iris," Peter introduces me.

"Iris, it's nice to meet you. Please have a seat. Peter you may go now."

"Bye my Queen. See you later Iris," he bows out.

"Bye Peter!" I call back. He turns and smiles then walks away.

"So Iris, Martella tells us that it would be hard to get you in a dress. Oh and call us Vivaldi, by the way." Vivaldi pours me a cup of black tea, which is my favorite, sugar makes it too sweet. The royal 'we' catches me off guard but then I sit down and take off my bow and quiver.

"If you really want me to I will," I say reluctantly.

"That's great! We found something that we though you might like?" Vivaldi hands me a red and black dress. I set down my cup and go to the closet to put on the dress.

It's very pretty and the material is sturdy. It's sleeveless, but not strapless, so I have great arm movement and under the skirt of the dress there are pants so I can run around. It's amazing, a dress I would actually wear.

I come out of the closet and am showered with complements. Vivaldi says she'll get me some more of these after I tell her how much I like it.

"Would you like to have a sleep over here? Martella said that she's coming," Vivaldi asks me.

"I would love to come. It'll be my first sleep over," I accept.

"Great! We'll also have a tea before it with everyone. I have a surprise announcement to make. We guess you should be getting back to the clock tower. See you tomorrow," Vivaldi shows us out. We tell her goodbye and hurry to Julius before it gets dark.

"Wait, Iris!" I hear Peter call out.

"Peter?" I turn around and he's running towards me with my bow and quiver.

"Thank you, I completely forgot about it.," I take it from him and put it on my back.

"Your welcome. I have to go back to my job, I've got tons of work to do."

"Oh okay. Well I'll see you tomorrow then."

"Bye Iris, Martella." He leaves us and heads back to the castle.

"That was nice of him," I remark.

"I think he likes you," Martella concludes. This turns me a deep shade of red.

"He was probably just being nice," I reason. Martella isn't buying it though.

"He usually isn't nice like that." Boris drops out of the tree scaring us half to death.

"Dear goodness Boris, you almost gave us a heart attack," I tell him.

"Um Iris, who is this? And why'd he jump out of a tree?" Martella asks sufficiently confused.

"Martella this is Boris, Boris this is Martella," I introduce them to each other.

"Nice to meet you," Boris smiles.

"You too."

"As I was saying, Peter usually isn't like that. The only other person who he was nice to was Alice," Boris informed me.

"Alice?" I ask, I heard Ace and Julius talk about her.

"The foreigner before you. Nightmare said that she is living in your world with Blood. Peter loved her the most out of all of us," I felt a small pain of jealousy.

"Nightmare sent him because he was going crazy for a long time after Alice left. He said that he needed to cut off those feelings for Alice and I think he finally did. Nightmare put him 5 years into the future so he would see how happy she was with Blood."

"So does he still love her?" I had to know. I didn't want to start liking someone who already had feelings for someone else.

"No I don't think so. I think after he saw her, he became more mature. Usually he'd attempt to tackle Alice or follow her around everywhere. With you he's trying to keep his emotions from controlling him too much," Boris explained. I feel guilty about being relieved that he doesn't love her anymore.

We don't say much after that and Boris walks us to the tower.


	9. Tea Time

Author's Note: Enjoy!

Disclaimer: HnKnA- not mine. Martella, Iris, and plot- mine.

**Chapter Nine**- Tea Time

**Martella**- Walking with Iris and Boris

I'm looking forward to the sleepover, Vivaldi said that something major was planned. I do enjoy surprises and I haven't been to a sleepover before.

Apparently Iris hasn't either. I'm going to miss Julius even though its for a night.

I've really come to like him in the short time I've known him. I just feel like I really was supposed to come here, like there is a reason that Peter found me.

When we reach the clock tower Boris leaves us. Iris and I head upstairs. I stop in the kitchen and make a cup of tea for Julius. I figure he's probably been working all day and would want something to drink. I ask Iris if she wants one but she says that she had enough at the castle and retires to bed.

On the way up the stairs to the workroom I fail to notice the folded bit of carpet my foot is about to hit and I trip. I fall flat on my face since my hands are busy carrying the cup of tea, which I might add is still quite hot. So the cup shatters and small pieces of porcelain splinter my hand. I hear a chair pushed back and footsteps coming down the stairs.

"Martella! Are you alright?" Julius asks hurriedly.

The hot tea starts stinging my hands. I shake my head in reply. He helps me up and let's me use him as a support because I think I sprained my left foot too, but after the first step the pain is so bad that he simply picks me up and carries me to my bedroom.

He sets me down on the side of the bed so that my legs hang over but they aren't in an uncomfortable position, then he leaves to get a bucket of cool water, materials for wrapping my foot, and some tweezers.

Burns, if you've ever felt them, are excruciatingly painful. The thing is they don't stop hurting until about half an hour later. I must look so frail to Julius. He takes my hands and places them in the cold water until the burning stops. Meanwhile wrapping my foot to keep it more in place.

"You probably shouldn't put any weight on that foot for a while." Then he gently lifts my right hand out and places it on a small cloth laying on the table by my bed.

"Since your hands are burnt this might hurt a lot but I don't want the pieces of porcelain to go deeper into your hands. There aren't that many in this one thankfully. What were you doing anyways?" he asks, trying to take my focus away from my hand.

"I was going to bring you a cup of coffee, but I accidentally tripped on the carpet." He takes the first piece out, it stings but only for a short moment.

"Thank you, but you didn't have to do that."

"I know, I wanted to though," he takes another piece out. I inhale sharply.

"Sorry, did that hurt?"

"Just a little."

"Okay, I'll try to be more careful. So how was your visit with the Queen? Ace came by again."

"It was nice. We're actually going to have a sleepover with Iris at the castle tomorrow."

"Just call for me when you wake up or want to go down. I'll help you with the stairs and getting to the castle. I don't mind being interrupted if its by you," he turns slightly pink, as do I.

"Thank you Julius. You're so kind," I say gratefully, he just smiles. He puts my hand back in the water and lifts the other one out.

"What is your world like? Aside from the mean people," he adds.

"It's very large and has tons of different ecosystems. We have cars instead of walking, but we do have roller coasters. Our world sort of looked liked yours around two hundred or so years ago. Lately humans have been polluting the Earth so much that a lot of nature is being destroyed," I grimace at the fact.

"What do you do in your free time?" He changes the subject.

"Write, draw, and play viola. I really didn't have any friends there so I had plenty of time to myself. You were really my first friend. I hadn't even met Iris until today too," I confess.

"I haven't had many friends here either. Alice, when she was here. Nightmare and Gray, but due to my job most people tend to stay away from me."

"Why is being a clockmaker frowned upon?"

"My other title is also the Mortician. Unlike your world, the inhabitants of Wonderland have clocks as hearts. So when someone dies they really don't die but simply stop. It's my job to fix them and a lot of people don't want to be fixed."

"That's no reason not to like you. At least you know that your greatest friends are the ones who stay by you even if they know what you do," I try to keep a positive outlook.

"Thanks Martella," he smiles so beautifully. I haven't even noticed that he finished working on my hands. He puts some cold water on a soft towel then lays it on the burn.

"For what? And thank you for doing this."

"For not being repelled by my job. Here let me help you lie down," he takes my legs and lifts them onto the bed.

"Do you need anything else?"

I look over and see my journal and pen within arms reach.

"No thank you. You've done so much already."

"Okay then. I'm going to return to my work. If you need anything please call," he tells me. He closes the door when he leaves.

I try to write in my journal but my hands are to sore to do anything. Instead I close my eyes and drift off to sleep.


	10. The New Hatter

Author's Note: Enjoy!

Disclaimer: HnKnA- not mine. Martella, Iris, and plot- mine.

**Chapter Ten**- The New Hatter

**Iris**- the Clock Tower

The sun has come up and I put on one of the other dresses Vivaldi gave to me. This is made in the same fashion as the one from yesterday but it's a teal color.

I check on Martella and see her lying in her bed with her leg in a splint and bandages on her hands.

"Hi Iris," she greets when she hears me enter.

"Martella! What happened?" I ask her.

"I tripped with the tea on the stairs, but Julius helped me and took care of everything. He's so nice," she smiles and gazes off daydreaming.

"Are you still coming to the sleepover?"

"Of course, it's the first one I've been invited to. Julius found some crutches for me and said he'll help me down later."

"I think someone likes you," I tease her. She blushes and turns away.

"I don't know what you're talking about," she rejects my statement.

"Whatever you say. Martella and Julius sitting in a tree-"

"Get out," she throws a pencil at me. I dodge it with ease.

"Do you need anything else, Juliet? Should I get Romeo for you?" This is fun. "Go away Iris!" I leave her alone and head out to go tree running, grabbing my bow before I go. I want to check out the mansion, it's the only part of Wonderland I haven't seen yet. First, I need to go find Boris. I promised him we'd go together.

It wasn't too hard as he was waiting right outside the Clock Tower.

"Where do you want to go?" he asks.

"I was thinking about checking out the Hatter's Mansion."

"Okay, race you there!" We run up the nearest tree and take off through the branches.

When we arrive at the gates of the mansion we see Vivaldi waiting there.

"Hi Iris, Elliot, Dee, Dum. We have business with Elliot about the new head of the Mafia," Vivaldi explains. _So that's what Blood did, he ran the mafia. A bit dangerous but pretty cool. _

"Wonderland's decided who's going to be the next hatter?" Elliot asks as he walks up.

"We believe so and we think we need to have a celebration to welcome this new hatter," she confirms, "all the role holders and the two foreigners are invited. Tea will be served this afternoon at two at the castle and then in the evening the foreigners and we will have our sleepover."

"Oh about that, Martella hurt her hands and leg, so it might take a while for her to get to the castle," I let her know.

"That's fine, we will wait for her before the celebration and announcement. We already had servants bring invitations to the other role holders."

"That's good. Then she should be getting ready now. I'm going to see if she needs any help. Bye, everyone," I wave goodbye and climb into the nearest tree.

"Wait, Iris, what are you doing?" Vivaldi calls after me.

"Tree running. I get around faster this way and I'm more coordinated up here," I explain.

"Well be careful. We will see you later." I smile and start running towards the tower.

"Wait for me!" Boris grins after me. I pause so he can catch up and we take off back to the Clock Tower.

When we get there, Boris heads back to the Amusement Park to get ready. I walk up to Martella who is already getting dressed but her hands still hurt too much to zip up the dress. She looks really nice in the long red dress with silver lace. I help her and then go to put on one of my new dresses. I choose a black one with dark purple lace, I secretly hope Peter likes it.

I pack my stuff for the sleepover and go down to see that Martella has done the same. Julius and I help her down the stairs.

He got dressed up too. He's wearing a black long coat outlined in gold. It suits him. I hand Martella the crutches and we walk to the castle where everyone else is already there.

There is one face that I haven't seen before. He has red hair and a mask on his belt.

"Nice to meet you, I'm the Joker," he says kissing my hand and Martella's.

"I'm Iris and this is Martella."

"Hey s***head, you forgot to introduce me," I jump because the mask talked. The cussing is a bit put offish too because I haven't heard it in this world, but in quite used to hearing it all around school.

"Please excuse him, this is also the Joker. You can call me Red and this is my brother Black. We run the circus," he tells us. I'm about to ask more when Nightmare comes up to me along with someone else that neither Martella or I have seen.

"Nightmare, you're really here!" I exclaim.

"Yes, and this is Grey," he replies.

"Nice to meet you, I'm-"

"Iris. Nightmare already came running to me saying that you changed your dream on him. Very clever. We're going to the hospital after this if he doesn't runaway again," Gray tells me. Then looking to Martella he asks, "And you are?"

"I'm Martella. Nightmare, you didn't seem sick when you talked with me," she says questioningly.

"It was one of my better nights."

Martella was about to say something else when Julius says that the tea's about to start. I sit between Peter and Boris. Martella takes a seat beside Vivaldi and Julius. After a bit of tea and cake Vivaldi stands up and calls for everyone's attention.

"As you know, we've been needing a new Hatter. Wonderland has waited for the right person and one has been brought forth, if she accepts," she looks directly at me.

"Iris, you are the new Hatter that Wonderland wants."


End file.
